Exclusive Interview with Solana Foundation Chair Lily Liu: Crypto Enlightenment Begins in Shanghai, Building Open Financial Infrastructure

Interview: Tong, PANews

Editor: Yuliya, PANews

Eleven years ago, Shanghai was the first stop for Lily Liu, Chair of the Solana Foundation, when she entered the crypto world. Now, eleven years later, she returns here with deep insights and high regard for the Chinese-speaking market.

In this exclusive PANews interview, Lily Liu shares her understanding of the underlying logic of blockchain, the development trajectory of the internet, and the PayFi concept. She explains why Solana has increased its investment in the Chinese-speaking region since 2023, and discusses how Solana is building open financial infrastructure globally, fostering developer ecosystems, and driving innovation in digital assets.

Non-technical background, discovering crypto in Shanghai

PANews: You mentioned in your speech at Wanxiang that you have a deep connection with Shanghai. Eleven years ago, you worked in Shanghai and first encountered the crypto world there. Can you share that story with us?

Lily Liu: That was in 2013. My good friend Bobby Lee founded one of China’s earliest Bitcoin exchanges, BTCC. We are alumni and have known each other since 2012. One day, while playing poker, he suddenly started talking to me about Bitcoin and gave a speech in Shanghai, almost preaching Bitcoin like a “religion.” I was curious but also skeptical, wondering if Bitcoin was some kind of “money laundering tool” or just a technical novelty.

Bobby encouraged me to read the Bitcoin whitepaper. I read it multiple times and realized that, although brief, it proposed a highly innovative technical architecture. I don’t come from a technical background, but I could see this was a real breakthrough—not just a “money game,” but a new direction combining economics and technology.

The whitepaper is titled “Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash,” and I found the concept fascinating. It essentially proposed a new stage for the internet. Looking back at internet development, we’ve gone through two phases: information internet and mobile internet. Web3 is the “internet of assets.”

Historically, in the development of the internet, there was an early idea in the HTTP protocol—an often overlooked status code “402 Payment Required”—which was proposed over 30 years ago as a native internet payment concept. But back then, technology wasn’t mature enough for value to be maintained digitally.

The fundamental innovation of blockchain is establishing a trusted ledger on the internet. From Bitcoin’s inception in 2008 to now, this innovation has evolved into a complete economic system. All my understanding of the crypto world started in Shanghai.

Increasing focus on the Chinese-speaking region, optimistic about payment potential

PANews: During your recent visit to Shanghai, your Mandarin was much more fluent than two years ago in Hong Kong. Is that because you’ve spent a lot of time in the Chinese-speaking region over the past two years?

Lily Liu: Yes. I’ve lived in Beijing and Shanghai before. Improving language skills definitely requires immersion. The past few years had limited opportunities, but since 2023, I’ve been focusing on the Chinese-speaking market.

This region is very active in developer communities, innovation, and capital. Solana aims to build deep connections here and promote ecosystem growth. Since 2023, we’ve launched developer training, community building, incubation support, and investment programs to encourage Chinese-speaking developers to participate in the Solana ecosystem and explore SVM’s potential. These efforts are helping us establish a solid technical and talent foundation in the region.

PANews: I know Solana hosts various developer events worldwide, including in Europe, India, and the US. From your observations, what are the unique advantages of Chinese developers compared to others?

Lily Liu: “Speed” is the most obvious trait. In terms of development speed and execution, Chinese-speaking developers are among the world’s leaders. Across the tech industry, few regions have the depth and breadth of talent that China has, and the Chinese-speaking community is one of them.

Solana is fundamentally an open-source technology platform. We often joke that the Solana Foundation is like the “human interface” to the GitHub repo—since the code itself doesn’t speak. Our role is to advocate for the open-source code, attracting developers, capital, and partners to build the “city” of Solana.

Blockchain is like a new land, and ecosystem building is akin to developing a city on that land. Developers and application founders are the city builders. Building an ecosystem can be simplified into three layers: the bottom layer is the network, the middle is applications, and the top is assets. This order is crucial—if the network isn’t healthy or stable, the applications and asset markets can’t thrive.

The entire internet has been open for over 30 years, allowing anyone to connect and access information. With blockchain, it’s not just information—it’s an open asset network. I believe this is a grand direction that can make global finance more equitable.

PANews: You also mentioned that Chinese developers are very capable in execution, but from a global perspective, in what areas do they still need to improve?

Lily Liu: China’s experience and talent in payments are world-leading. Over the past decade, the biggest breakthrough in mobile has been China’s super apps, which seamlessly integrate social and payments—something rarely seen elsewhere. So, if foreign companies want top-tier talent that deeply understands payment systems, user experience, and infrastructure, the Chinese-speaking region is the top choice.

( PayFi isn’t just payments—building open financial infrastructure

PANews: You’ve been promoting the PayFi concept for a while.

Lily Liu: Yes. I didn’t initially expect this concept to gain so much attention. I started talking about PayFi last year, inspired by a sudden realization: payments are just the beginning. Blockchain’s potential goes far beyond simply transferring tokens.

We should thank Ethereum. Its vision broke new ground, showing us that blockchain isn’t just about “value transfer.” If blockchain can have native smart contracts, it becomes a development platform, an app platform—greatly expanding its applications. Any app could potentially run on blockchain.

That’s why I prefer “PayFi” over “Payments.” Because “PayFi” builds on the fundamental ability of payments, combined with all the DeFi applications enabled by smart contracts.

This means users can manage everything within a single wallet, accessing a broad world of use cases. Our vision of “Internet Capital Markets” is precisely this: an asset internet on the web. This asset internet isn’t a single app but a open, neutral, and decentralized financial infrastructure that gathers the widest range of buyers and sellers, creating a massive market.

Ultimately, it can encompass all asset classes and use cases, allowing anyone with internet access to pay or trade within a unified experience. We’re looking at a market of over 5.5 billion people online.

PANews: Besides PayFi, Solana has also promoted sectors like DePIN. Are there any other areas you’re particularly optimistic about or want to push developers into?

Lily Liu: If Amazon is the “Everything Store,” then Solana is the “Everything Chain.”

We don’t intentionally segment sectors. My view is that a blockchain’s core role is as a financial infrastructure—an infrastructure that can serve all sectors. Because any project with a native token needs liquidity and trading, it fundamentally requires a universal financial backbone. A token is a digitized value, separate from the underlying project.

Whether it’s DePIN related to hardware, pure finance, or other digital assets, we support them as a foundational infrastructure. We remain neutral toward all assets and developers.

) Tokenization is shifting traditional perceptions; development and user experience still need improvement

PANews: You also mentioned that there are now six or seven digital asset custody companies (DAT) within the Solana ecosystem. Do you support all of them, or do you have criteria for selection?

Lily Liu: These companies are independent teams aiming to become core builders of the ecosystem. Our foundation has always supported ecosystem contributors. In the past, “builders” mainly referred to early-stage project founders. But I believe these new companies are also community builders—they contribute to the ecosystem in a different way, with different roles than early startups.

Our role is to support the ecosystem. As long as they contribute to Solana, whether they are enterprises or individual developers, we support them. They have different needs, but as long as they serve Solana, we back them. Over the past couple of years, Wall Street’s understanding, acceptance, and support for blockchain have rapidly evolved. We see these DAT companies as potential long-term ecosystem players, and we’ve established partnerships with them.

PANews: As you’ve interacted more with these companies and traditional institutions, have you noticed their attitudes toward crypto, or specifically Solana, improving?

Lily Liu: I think over the past one or two years, attitudes from various regions, countries, and regulators have improved significantly. The core driver is “tokenization.” This trend started around 2018, but like many new technologies, it experienced a bubble in early stages. After several market cycles, it has now matured into a sustainable development path.

It’s similar to Gartner’s Hype Cycle—common in tech adoption. Some criticize blockchain for slow progress, but I think it’s developing quite fast—depending on your perspective. Blockchain isn’t just an application; it’s a network, a foundational layer. For Solana, a better analogy isn’t Google but protocols like TCP/IP, Linux, or HTTP.

Infrastructure is improving, applications are being built—perhaps that’s why user growth feels slow. From your perspective, how can more users be attracted to Web3 and Solana?

Lily Liu: Currently, Solana has about 80 million active users per month globally, which is quite high in the industry. But to attract more users, two areas need improvement: developer experience and user experience. Both have room for growth.

As a foundation, we focus on developers. We’re always thinking about how to make development easier and more straightforward. For example, a few years ago, we introduced the Anchor framework, and now there are many developer tools we support.

For users and enterprises, we’re exploring solutions like simple APIs that enable any Web2 app to become a Web3 “super app” by integrating this API. That way, “any app can become a Super App.” We’re working on making it easier to integrate Solana and Web3.

Finally, on a personal note: As a woman professional traveling globally and with children now in elementary school, how do you balance intense work with family life?

Lily Liu: I currently focus on two things: work and family. If I include self-care, it’s three. I believe family is the most important long-term. But I don’t see my work and family as conflicting; I see my abilities as a way to set an example for my children.

Especially since I have two daughters, I want them to see what their mom can achieve, rather than think there are limits for women. I’m very grateful for my mother’s upbringing. She never told me I’d be treated differently because I’m a woman. From a young age, she told me I had the same resources and opportunities as others, and because I was the youngest, I could learn from my older siblings and had access to more resources and chances.